Senior Steve Shively (Indianapolis,
Ind./North Central) put Valparaiso
in front with a goal midway through the first half, a lead the Crusaders would
hold for nearly 45 minutes, but two Butler
goals in a span of less than three minutes gave the Bulldogs the final edge,
2-1, Sunday at Brown Field in Horizon League action.

"I
thought we played very well today, particularly in the first half, and in some
ways I thought the result could have easily gone the other way,” said Crusader
head coach Mike Avery. “Butler
is a very good team, though, and they are in the midst of a great season, so
you have to credit them for coming back and winning the game.”

Both
teams came out with an offensive flurry, as Butler netminder Fabian Knopfler
had to make four saves in the match’s first 14 minutes, while Ryan Schwarz (Rockford, Ill./Boylan
Catholic) stopped a pair of shots in the first 17 minutes. It was Valpo which would break onto the scoreboard
first, as Shively came up with a takeaway in the offensive end and laced a shot
from the right side, 15 yards out, that found its way inside the far post to
give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. For Shively,
it was his 16th career goal, tying him with three others in eighth
place on Valpo’s all-time list.

Valpo
maintained the advantage well into the second half, as Schwarz came up with a
total of six first-half saves to keep the Bulldogs off the board. But Butler’s
first shot on net in the second half, which came in the 66th minute,
would prove to be the equalizer. The
Bulldogs maintained possession in their offensive half following a corner kick,
and Julian Cardona fed Boris Gatzky on the left flank, 20 yards out. Gatzky let go a shot that Schwarz got a hand
on, but was unable to keep out of the upper-right corner of the net.

Less
than three minutes later, in the 69th minute of action, the Bulldogs
took the lead for good. This time, a
corner kick was directly responsible for the tally, as Gatzky put a corner to
the short side of the goal, where Matt Hedges was able to get a foot on it and
score his third goal of the season, converting from six yards out.

Butler (8-1-1, 3-0-1 Horizon) ended the
match with a 17-13 advantage in the shots category and put eight shots on frame
to Valpo’s six. Schwarz closed the 90
minutes with six saves, while Knopfler ended up with five stops. Both sides had multiple opportunities for set
pieces from the corner, as the Bulldogs took five corner kicks and the
Crusaders four.

“For us
as a team, we have to mature a little bit more so we can ride through the late
moments of a match we are leading and learn how to close out games,” said
Avery. “As I told the guys afterwards, it's not in our feet because we
are talented enough, and it is not in our hearts because we play as hard or
harder than any team I have been around - it is in our heads. Our
collective experience will improve, and sometimes tough results are part of the
process.”

Valparaiso (5-6-1, 1-2-1 Horizon) returns to the pitch for
another big Horizon League matchup on Saturday afternoon at Brown Field, as
league leader Green Bay
comes to town. Kickoff is slated for 1
p.m., and all the action can be heard live on WVUR, 95.1 FM, Valparaiso and online at www.valpoathletics.com, which will
also have a link for live stats.